At least, I think it's Latin

Why doesn't the curriculum at Hogwarts include Latin? I've always wanted to know. I mean, 99% of all the spells and charms known to magical folk are of a Latin-ish origin. Unlike the situation in most of the world, Latin is a highly relevant language to the wizarding community. You would think that a good, basic grounding in grammar and syntax would be as important in the magical world as it is in Catholic Seminary.

It's illogical to think this is just an oversight on the part of the school's Board of Governors. I've spent a great deal of time and energy pondering this, and the only sound conclusion I can come to is that failure to include Latin in the curriculum was deliberative action on the part of the administration.

We may never know their reasoning, as it is very difficult to obtain meeting minute notes from the B. of G. Transparancy in governance, a concept which we take for granted here in the U.S., is not the norm within the bureaucracy of the British magical world.

Maybe they believe, if they teach the kids Latin, the kids will proceed to make up their own spells. They're afraid of anarchy, or maybe afraid of injurious new spells that Madame Pomfrey can't cure in the Hospital Wing. That sort of thing.

On the other extreme, though, ignorance is not bliss. You could easily get a situation where a student comes across a spell he can't decipher, and uses it recklessly, as HP did in Book 6. What happened, of course, is that HP nearly killed a student on accident.

Overarching Questions:

Is the withholding of Latin Studies really a sound education policy on the part of Dumbledore and the rest of the Board of Governors? Can we afford to continue to stand by, while the next generation of fictional witches and wizards languishes in ignorance?

Conclusion:

More research is needed. Starting with Book 7.

Comments

[Anthony]

All the verbal spells and charms are in Latin or Latin-derived terminology. Not all of the potions are latinate and who knows what the hell goes on in Astronomy or Herbology. My suspicion is that Latin was the original langiage of magic but you don't need to learn it as a language in order to do pre-extant spells, since pronunciation of the spell is not the entirety of the process.
My big question is this: how come, at a private school--an ENGLISH private school and we know all about those places-- where you spend seven years sleeping (as it were) with members of your own gender are there neither any raging gay/lesbian wizards or, for that matter,a whole demographic sub-section of prematurely pregnant teenage spellcasters? Or does Madame Pomfrey have a "cure" for both these conditions?

[pam]

This is a policy prospectus, sweetie, not a "who does and who doesn't" forum. This time. Check back in tomorrow.

[Bethiclaus]

When people take Harry Potter this seriously, it kind of scares me. And then it kind of makes me laugh. And then it kind of makes my day.

[Anthony]

Pam:

Don't you run a background check on bloggers before they post?
"...take Harry Potter this seriously.." Are these people INSANE or JUST CLEARLY AGENTS OF THE DARK LORD?
It is to everyone's peril that we fail to take HP "seriously" (as though he were merely a fictional device created by J K Rowling instead of being who he really is, the voice of the zeitgeist) every day. HP is far more than private school hijinks and latinate magical spells, HP is EVERYTHING WE STRIVE FOR DAILY! Like most rational, thoughtful people, I have set aside considerable portions of my daily life and bank account to fully realize the totality of HP. My three dogs are named Harry, Hermione and Ron. And THEY'RE ALL GIRL DOGS! I have an entire HP room in my house filled with every HP tie-in ever created.
And yet people (mostly my muggle relatives) call me insane.
It is to weep I tell you. To weep the tears of Fawkes the Phoenix.

[Kimberly]

This post sounds like it was written by someone on the edge :)

[Anthony]

Kimberly:

I jumped off the edge years ago. Just ask Pam.

[pam]

Kimberly, it is impossible to take HP *too* seriously.

[Aaron Agassi]

Do we actually have such complete detail of the curriculum at Hogwarts to know definitively that it does not include Latin?

[BB]

we do not know!!

[pam]

Bunny confirmed with me last night that Latin Studies has never been mentioned in six books. Not to say that JKR didn't have it in mind, but if it's not in the pages, it doesn't count.

[Your mother]

Could it be a deep seated fear of conjugation?

[Aaron Agassi]

Are, for example, math or English ever treated?

Does curriculum as revealed in stories set, for example, at Harvard or MIT, thereby exclude all that is not explicitly mentioned?